Hello, everybody, Salvador Rider here. This update is being posted sooner than I imagined, since I completed this chapter surprisingly quickly. I guess it's amazing how much free time one has once the first year of university is over. A few questions were raised last chapter, which I'd like to address. ultimateCCC, thank you for raising the question of how Ash's Pokémon are taking the news, I nearly forgot to include that little detail. But that's what this particular update will address. And SerenaTheHedgehog, you were worried that Ash may actually be dead. Well, all I'm prepared to say is "spoilers". BWAHAHAHAHA! No, I jest. But I'm not prepared to reveal any spoilers at any point during the writing of this story. In fact, I'm keeping the details of this story so secret, not even I know the minor details, I'm just letting the flow of the mood take me. Keep an eye out for the two sneaky little interrobangs I added to this chapter. If you don't know what an interrobang is, it looks like the illegitimate lovechild between an exclamation point and a question mark. I feel that it's a very underrated punctuation mark. Enjoy the chapter.
At Team Rocket HQ, Giovanni was sat in his office smirking maniacally as he looked over the intelligence his officers had gathered on the locations of the world's legendary Pokémon. The data feeds and spread sheets were all laid out before him on the computer desk, each showing the known locations of each legendary Pokémon. Giovanni chuckled darkly as he reviewed his intelligence officers' findings, each sheet of statistics showing great promise for successful raids to control the legendary Pokémon that resided in the area. A knock at the door stirred him from his work. He glanced up at the door and placed all the spread sheets into his top drawer.
"What is it‽" He snapped, unimpressed at being interrupted. The door opened and a Rocket scientist popped his head round the door.
"My apologies, sir. But we're ready for testing of subject XD 00P." He said. Giovanni's face cracked the most grimacing smile possible as he stood from his desk.
"Excellent. Then let's not waste any time." He crowed as he and the scientist made their way down to the labs.
As the lift completed its descent to the labs in the basement, the heavy iron doors slid open with a hefty sigh. Giovanni and his scientist accomplice strode out of the tiny capsule and made their way to the testing facility in the bowls of the headquarters. Giovanni placed his large hand on a security scanner once they reached the large circular door to the facility. The device buzzed judgingly as it shone a laser at his palm before beeping acceptingly once it had verified the boss' identity. The circular door whirred into life and opened, allowing the two men to enter before hissing back into place to seal them in. with a smirk, Giovanni strolled leisurely up to an awaiting figure. The testing facility was unimpressive; built for functionality, not for aesthetics. The walls were blindingly sterile and white; half the room surrounded by a large reinforced steel chain link fence, and divided from the other half of the room with a large bulletproof observing window. Stood at the window was a young gentleman, seemingly in his mid-twenties, with silver hair with a jagged ponytail sprouting from the right side of his fringe. He wore a dark pair of slim glasses and a white lab coat with a flared collar. He stood perfectly motionless, smirking smugly as a small black box in the fenced off arena beyond the glass shook and rattled, obviously containing something that wanted to be free. Giovanni came to his side and watched with great interest.
"Doctor Ein, I presume?" He addressed the young physician, without troubling himself with turning to address the man. The young man simple chuckled and nodded.
"The very same, Mister Mortegio." He replied, returning the rather rude gesture of not bothering to turn to address his company.
"I hear that your experiment is ready for its first test run."
"Indeed. I must say, sir, I was fascinated when your men first came to me for my expertise for this, seemingly, trivial procedure. I never expected an electric rat to be so bothersome during the operations. Quite frankly, XD 001 was by far a Lillipup by comparison."
"That electric rat…" Giovanni stated flatly. "…happens to be the formerly inseparable partner of the late Pokémon Master, one deceased Ash Ketchum." He spat.
"Ah. The legend even greater than the legends of the world." Doctor Ein mused, chuckling darkly. "Well, whatever the rat is, it is all but a distant memory, now. Long since forgotten to the darkness that now plagues its tiny little brain." He sneered, pressing a red button on the control pad next to him. The little black box in the arena, before Giovanni's very eyes, collapsed in a heap, allowing him to see the little electric rodent the box encased, snarling and growling like a savage, feral beast. His yellow fur was now blackened, as if he were burnt by wildfire. His beady eyes, once sparkling and inviting, were now hollow and red, burning like little pits of hellfire of rage and hatred. "Every living memory of his former master is dead." Ein chortled. "Replaced with artificial thoughts of neglect and hatred and rage." He sneered, his lips curling into an evil smirk. "Little rodent put up quite the fight. Forever trying to cling onto those sweet and putrefying days with his owner, running around the world, saving entire civilisations, meeting new friends, finding romance, but I was, ultimately, stronger." He smirked, holding up a phial of black, sludge like, fluid. "This chemical is designed to attack a living organism at its nervous system, paralysing its victim and torturing its mind with memory altering hallucinogens. Every happy memory, every good thought, every feeling of love… replaced with feelings of abuse, and loathing, and revenge." He chuckled sinisterly as he slipped the tube back into his coat pocket.
"Your chemical has, indeed, made the rat more aggressive. And, I must admit, made it look less fluffy." Giovanni mused, nodding his approval. "But what about its power? I need a weapon that'll lay waste to anyone who stands in my way." He glanced at the young scientist from the corner of his eye, challengingly. When he'd heard that this, so-called, Doctor Ein was once a scientist who had perfected a way to increase any Pokémon's power by artificially closing the door to its heart, he was prepared to send his agents to the distant region of Orre to break him out of prison. He wanted to be sure he was getting his money's worth on this man. If his experiments didn't deliver and create a savage, ruthless, and unstoppable force of unbridled power, he'd have to wipe the whole project clean, which could impact too heavily on his plans and cause a major inconvenience to his progress. A risk he wasn't prepared to take. The young scientist just smirked and flicked his jagged ponytail.
"If you'd permit me to introduce XD 00P to an expendable subject, you can witness its power first hand." He said, coolly. Giovanni nodded and called for two prisoners to be taken from the headquarters brig for testing XD 00P.
Five minutes later, two Rocket grunts were pushed forcefully into the test arena with XD 00P and their only escape was sealed by two armed guards. The test grunts were two young individuals. The first was a young man, about twenty years of age, with brown eyes and an athletic build. He was looking around nervously at the unfamiliar surroundings, scanning hopefully for an escape route. The second was a young girl, no older than sixteen years old. She was trembling and crying in fear, her sky blue eyes dulled from sleepless nights of torture and her shoulder length blonde hair matted and greasy with dirt clogging her ponytail in knots. XD 00P sniffed the air intently before turning around to spot them. He snarled at them, gnashing his jaws at thin air, froth seeping from his savage teeth.
"These two idiots are prisoners for their incompetence in action." Giovanni seethed as he watched the two youths tremble in fear of the feral rodent they shared their prison with. "Show them no mercy." Ein nodded and picked up a microphone wired to the telecom system in the fight pit.
"Subject XD 00P." He commanded, coolly with a stern, authoritative tone. "I order you to demonstrate your strength. Show your opponents no mercy." At the command, XD 00P snarled at his prey, leaping towards them. The youths screamed in terror and split, hoping the beast would target the other victim first. Without hesitation, XD 00P darted straight in the direction of the boy, hunting him down with feral intentions. He ran on all fours, kicking up a trail of blinding dust in his wake as he gnashed viciously at the boy's heels. The lad yelped in distressed and leapt onto the chain link fence, using whatever purchase he could grasp to desperately clamber up the metal barrier. XD 00P barked up at him angrily, before grabbing the fence with his tiny paws and started to shake the chain link confines. Despite the mouse's tiny stance in relation to the metal walls encasing him and his victims, the rodent's shakes caused the entire structure of the fence to wobble like a jelly, swaying to and fro as the young man clung on for dear breath. With growing rage at being denied his first hunt, XD 00P's fur began to spark and crackle with black lighting, charging for a devastating electric attack. With a single cry, the mouse sparked his attack, transferring thousands of watts of electricity into the reinforced steel fence, frying the young lad alive as he screamed out in pain. His muscles spasmed and twitch from the unforgiving electric torture, causing his fingers to slip. He lost his hold on the fence and fell to the floor with a sickening crunch as he landed on his shoulder blades, cracking his upper back. He lay on the floor, twinging in agony as XD 00P stalked up to him, snarling ferociously. As the feral beast neared, the man tried helplessly to flee from his inevitable demise, only to scream out in pain before the monstrous Pokémon gave an almighty roar and sunk his teeth deep into his throat and ripping away his trachea with a single jolt of his neck. The creature spat out the bloody mass of flesh onto the man's lifeless face as his throat gave a ghastly gurgle as his blood pooled in the freshly hollowed out cavity in his neck. The girl, by now, was cowering behind a rock in the arena, weeping her eyes out in terror. She turned with a shriek as she heard a terrible snarl just millimetres from her head before the ghastly Pikachu pounced at her, slashing at her face with his claws as he hacked away chunks of flesh from her skull with veracious blood thirst. Looking on from the observation window, the two men sneered with sadistic menace at the demise of the two lowly grunts.
"Impressive." Giovanni admitted, now gracing Doctor Ein by turning to address him. "A splendid performance of power and formidity." He congratulated the scientist, offering his hand, which the young doctor took firmly with a shake.
"I'm sure, Mister Giovanni, sir, that you wouldn't have expected anything less."
"Brock? Misty? Can I talk to you for a minute?" Tracey asked, as the pair were sat in the professor's kitchen with their morning coffees.
"Yeah, sure, Trace. Pull up a chair." Brock answered him, half-heartedly, waving at the vacant chair at the dining table. Tracey sat down at the table and leaned on his forearms on the table. He took a deep breath and looked between the two gym leaders.
"Well, I've been thinking about what you said to everyone yesterday and… well, I'm just worried about how we're gonna break this to Ash's Pokémon here at the ranch. I mean, it'll break their hearts, but we've gotta tell them." Brock and Misty silently looked at each other. Both gave a shaky sigh as they downed the final dregs of their coffee before placing their mugs down on the table, heads hung heavily.
"He's right, Brock." Misty admitted, slowly rising from her chair. "I'll go tell them the news." She said as she turned to head out to the ranch.
"No, Mist. I should be there with you. It'll be tough to tell them alone." Brock protested, pushing his chair back form the table and pushing himself to his feet.
"No, Brock. I'll be fine." Misty retaliated in her bluntest 'don't argue with me' tone. Brock stood standing for a brief second, but then simply nodded before taking the mugs to the kitchen and starting the washing up. Misty sighed heavily and slowly made her way out to the ranch. As she stepped out into the sunlight, she felt a sharp pang in her chest and a bitter lump in her throat as she thought of what she was going to tell Ash's Pokémon that their master was no longer going to be there for them. She knew that Ash's Pokémon doted upon him dearly, with a few examples being exceptionally true. As much as it'd break her heart to tell them that Ash was gone, Misty knew that it was the right thing to do. She didn't need to look too far before she stumbled across Bulbasaur, who was on one of his routine patrols to keep the peace. As the bulb Pokémon spotted her, he smiled and walked up to her with a friendly smile. She smiled back weakly and knelt down to give the small plant dinosaur a hug, petting him softly. "Hi Bulbasaur." She greeted him, with forced cheer. "Could you do me a favour, please?"
"Bulba." The grass type said with a nod.
"I need you to gather all of Ash's Pokémon here on the ranch. It's important. Tell them to meet me at the old oak in the middle of the ranch, OK?" The Pokémon nodded again and ran off into the ranch, rounding up all of the Pokémon Ash kept at the ranch.
It didn't take long until all of Ash's Pokémon were rounded up and gathered underneath the old oak tree in the centre of the Pokémon ranch. All the Pokémon were quietly murmuring amongst themselves. What was going on? What di Misty have to say? What could be so urgent about it? All eyes soon fell silently upon Misty, who was sat slumped against the roots of the elderly tree, her head hung low with her bangs covering her eyes. She looked out through her hair at the amassed Pokémon, all hanging eagerly to her body language, awaiting the big news with anticipation. She drew in a deep breath and plucked up the courage to look up at the creatures, in spite of her fearful dread that made her stomach perform backflips in her belly. "Everyone…" She started slowly. "I know you've all been waiting to hear back from Ash. He's been out of contact for an uncharacteristically long period of time." The Pokémon all nodded, hoping that she was going to say that Ash had been back in contact lately, and he'd be on his way back home soon. "But… Brock and myself went out to find him." Misty continued, the Pokémon now hanging on her every word, hoping for good news. "But we didn't find him." She reported, earning herself numerous sighs of disappointment from the listening creatures. "And I'm very sorry to tell you all, but… Ash is never coming home." Misty choked, the lump in her throat now tasting like bile that burned her lips as she held in her tears. The Pokémon gasped, and started to murmur to each other again. Not coming back? Had Ash gone missing? Had he run away? Worse? What could've happened? "I know this is going to be hard to accept." The redhead continued. "I still don't want to accept it myself. But…" She took a deep breath. "Ash is dead." The Pokémon gasped louder this time. But none louder than Bayleef. Upon hearing those words, her heart snapped like a twig. Ash? He was… dead? But how? Sure, Ash was an idiot sometimes and ran into dangerous situations like he was chasing an ice cream van, but he never got himself into a life or death situation before. Surely she's joking. Right? "Brock and I overheard some Team Rocket grunts the other day. They murdered Ash." No! That can't be true. Team Rocket… actually killed Ash? Bayleef's Ash? All the Pokémon cried out in dismay at the news, but Bayleef broke out in tears. "Bayleef, I know it's hard to hear. Believe me, I understand." Understand? How could Misty understand? She's just… she's just a human. In floods of heartbroken tears, Bayleef ran away from the group of horrified Pokémon, breaking down the fence that bordered the perimeter of the ranch as she fled into the forest. "Bayleef‽ Bayleef, come back!" Misty pleaded, in vain, since Bayleef was long gone. Tracey came running out to see what the fuss was.
"What happened?" He huffed, leaning on his knees to catch his breath.
"Bayleef ran off in tears." Misty told him. "I guess the shock of finding out Ash was murdered was too much for her." The rest of the Pokémon, shocked and confused from the day's events, all started to cry too, leaving Misty and Tracey no choice but to try and comfort them all and reassure them that all of Ash's friends would see Team Rocket put to justice.
And there's your latest update. Poor Pikachu. Now he's the latest victim of the Shadow Pokémon corruption, courtesy of the evil Doctor Ein. And now Bayleef's run off into the wild in floods of tears, leaving the rest of Ash's Pokémon to come to terms with their trainer's death on their own. Next chapter, Misty's going to go through the worst and most traumatic hell she can ever imagine hell can be... willingly. Catch up with Brock, Misty and the others next time. Please do leave your feedback and suggestions, the reviews help me out a great deal, both as an author and as a person, your views really help me struggle through my depression. Thank you to everyone.